


Burn the Skies

by nesquikie



Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Love Triangles, Novelization, Star Wars References, The Force, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28066182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nesquikie/pseuds/nesquikie
Summary: Novelization of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 Sith Lords with female Jedi exile.It is a perilous time for the galaxy. A brutal civil war has all but destroyed the Jedi Order, leaving the ailing Republic on the verge of collapse.Amid the turmoil, the evil Sith have spread across the galaxy, hunting down and destroying the remaining Jedi Knights.Narrowly escaping a deadly Sith ambush, the last known Jedi clings to life aboard a battered freighter near the ravaged world of Peragus...
Relationships: Bao-Dur/Female Jedi Exile, Female Jedi Exile/Atton "Jaq" Rand
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tbh I haven't written fan fic in a LONG time, and this is my first post on ao3, so I decided to start off with something easy...easier. 
> 
> tl;dr, read at your own risk.

_Awaken._

I came to consciousness, coughing and sputtering, choking out the kolto fluid that had previously filled my lungs and spitting it onto the stone-cold floor I had collapsed on. Between my bouts of splurging, I heard machinery shutting down, and fluid being drained, flushing from the kolto tank I had been released from. Once I could finally breathe, I pushed myself to my hands and knees, taking in the room around me. Five kolto tanks surrounded me in a semicircle, one of them empty, the four others housing men I didn't recognize. They floated in the tanks, lifeless, but they looked to be healed.

Getting up from the floor, I approached one of the tanks, checking the datapad for any information. The life signs showed that he was dead, with no explanation as to how or why, but when I looked closely at his body, I saw scars that had been closed and burns that had been healed. It was the same for the rest of the men, which had me eerily confused. Someone had to have poisoned the tanks to kill these people, but I was not a floating bag of meat inside the last kolto tank. So how did I survive?

I decided I should explore a little more to find out where I was or what was happening. The last thing I remember was being aboard a Republic ship called the Harbinger. I recall that it was attacked, and I passed out somehow, but my memory was blurry and I couldn't remember anything that happened after the alarm sounded. 

Pushing that aside, I exited the room I was in through the only door on the far side of the room. I proceeded through a hallway and turned right to find a room that looked like a morgue. There were two bodies, one of an older woman, and a man in a miner's uniform. He had burns up and down the right side of his body, like he had been a shield for a grenade. The woman had a long, brown robes and silvery, braided hair that extended past her shoulders. 

As if just by looking at the dead woman disturbed her eternal slumber, the body started to rustle, and the woman opened her eyes and jolted out of the bed faster than I thought someone of her age could muster. She squinted her eyes at me before carefully folding the hood of her cloak over her head, concealing her eyes. 

"Something you seek amongst the dead, child?" She asked me, her voice raspy and cold.

I blinked in confusion before I muttered, "But you...were dead."

"Almost," she explained. "I slept to recover my strength, but I believe I have slumbered too long."

Then it hit me. "Your voice," I said. "I heard you when I was in the kolto tank."

"Yes," she muttered. "You do have the smell of kolto on you. How do you feel?"

I was taken aback by the mentioning of my well-being. "I'm...fine. Who are you?"

She raised her chin slightly at my comment. "My name is Kreia, and I am your rescuer, as you are mine." She looked around the room, taking in the environment around us. "I admit, I do not know where we are, however. I do remember rescuing you from the Republic warship and bringing you to the Ebon Hawk. You were the only survivor on that vessel. No doubt because of your Jedi training."

I eyed her warily. "I am a Jedi no longer. I was exiled from the order."

"I know exactly what you are, _Jedi_ ," Kreia spat out the word like it was a poison on her tongue. "Your very stance, the way you walk, tells me the burden you carry is heavy, as any Jedi would."

"Enough of this," I told her, shaking my head. "Talking about what I was gets us nowhere. We need a ship and weapons."

Kreia crossed her arms and eyed me up and down judgmentally, "And perhaps some clothes, if not for first impressions."

I finally looked down on myself to see what I was wearing, which wasn't much. Just enough to cover the sensitive areas, and realizing this made my cheeks grow warm. "Right."

"The people who attacked us are probably still hunting us. I suggest you hurry, child," Kreia explained to me. "I will stay here and recover more of my strength." She returned to the bed and and sat down, attempting to meditate, which reminded me of my Jedi training, where all the Masters seemed to do was meditate. It drove me insane, sometimes; I don't get how they can do it so much for so long. 

I sighed and continued to the next room, finding a vibroblade in a locker by the medbay. Vibroweapons, like this blade, are powered by an energy cell in the hilt where it uses sonic vibrations to give it an edge. I've seen mercenaries and pirates use these to go toe-to-toe with energy swords and lightsabers because the special metal it's made out of can absorb electricity and go straight through energy shields. The cortosis-weave metal, however, is extremely rare, so how one such weapon found its way here was a mystery, but I'm glad it did all the same. 

There were droids patrolling the halls, and I found myself falling into a state of instinct, dodging their lasers and cutting them down like I had done so a hundred times, which was partially true, but it seemed so long ago that I thought I had forgotten these motions. While in my travels, I kept up my skills in combat, blade and blaster alike, and actually fighting again was exhilarating, but guilt bubbled in my chest. 

There was not one life form to be seen among the droids. No bodies, no signs of struggle, no blaster scoring on the walls. It's as if everyone just up and left after turning all their crazy mining droids loose. Clearly, this station was a mining operation. These machines were equipped with extremely low level lasers and heat shields designed to drill through heated rock. Why their programming has decided that I was the object to be mined was beyond me. 

Finally, I came across the main control center. Exploring a little more around this area, I found a locked room, which I could easily splice into to unlock it—another skill I had entertained while away. What I found on the other side, however, was not what I was expecting. There was a singular man on the far side of the room in a containment field meant for prisoners. He was sitting in the middle of the force cage, tossing a coin into the air and catching it again when it fell down.

 _You have nothing to fear from this one,_ I heard Kreia's voice inside my head; a strange voice for my conscience to sound like. _His mind is troubled, but he will cause you no harm. He might yet be useful._

When he heard the door open, he popped his head up to see who was walking in. Immediately, he stood, pocketing the coin, and looked me over.

The man crossed his arms and smirked at me. "Nice outfit. You miners change regulation uniforms when I wasn't looking?"

I rolled my eyes and walked toward his cage, making sure my vibroblade was within his view. "Why don't you keep your eyes up and tell me who you are?"

"Name's Atton. Atton Rand. Excuse me if I don't shake your hand. The field only causes minor electrical burns."

"Ok, Atton," I said, tasting his name for the first time, and little did I know it wouldn't by far be the last. "What is this place? And why is it deserted besides crazed mining droids?"

"The station is deserted?" Atton asked. "Well, that explains why they haven't fed me in days. This is the Peragus Mining Facility. The only place with shipping-grade engine fuel in this corner of the galaxy. It's owned by the Republic and is fueling the reconstruction effort on Telos. This Jedi showed up and caused all sorts of problems, then there were explosions in the mines that killed a bunch of people and now this."

"Jedi?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he spat. "A Jedi. Showed up a couple days ago badly wounded. A bunch of the miners thought they could get the hefty reward by turning the Jedi in to the Exchange." He scoffed. "Look where that got them." Atton squinted at me cautiously, then his eyes got wide. "Wait, you are the Jedi, aren't you? Damn, Jedi training pays off, doesn't it?"

I rolled my eyes. "Alright," I said. "I'm going to find a way off this station. You can stay here and starve in your cell, or you can help me."

"Is that a trick question?" Atton asked me. "If you can get me out of here and off this minefield of a planet, I'll lick your boots."

I went to the console and started unlocking Atton's cell. "I'm not going to ask you to lick my boots because I'm not wearing any, but I'll let you come if you think you can help."

"I can reroute the emergency systems so we can get to the hangars," Atton explained as the field went down. "Then we can grab a ship and fly out of here, but I need to get to the command console."

I motioned for him to proceed. "Lead the way, flyboy."

The scoundrel gave me a sly wink as he walked by, then I followed, keeping some distance between us. He was just in prison, after all. We exited the room and continued to the command center of the Peragus space port. Still seeing nobody in the facility, we made our way to the controls, where Atton immediately got to work.

"This console is on automatic hail," he told me as his fingers flew across the systems. "The asteroid drift charts are constantly being updated, so it sends out a transmission to incoming vessels so they don't get crushed into space dust. The hail warns them to keep their distance until the orbital charts are transmitted to freighters, usually, to get docking instructions. Thing is, I can bounce the transmission back to this console and suddenly I have access to all systems on the station from the inside." Just as he said that, a beep sounded from the console, and when I read the text, it showed he was granted access to the security systems. "Pure pazaak," he continued. "Now all we need to do is reactivate the turbolifts, cancel the emergency lockdown, and—hey!"

I took a step forward and tried to peer over Atton's shoulder. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Ah, damnit," Atton cursed. "This console has been separated from the main hub after being activated remotely."

"Can we reroute the system?" I asked.

"No, it's been cut clean."

I scrunched my eyebrows curiously and reached over by Atton to take a look at the console for myself. "That's not standard procedure during a lockdown. Someone had to have severed the connection after the lockdown started."

"Exactly," he said. "It's as if someone wanted to lock us in here tight and leave us to die."

I shot him a smirk and I realized how close my face actually was to his shoulder. "Don't be a spoil sport, Atton. At least we have communications up."

He crossed his arms and leaned back on his left leg. "Whatever good shouting into a vacuum will get us."

"Maybe there's someone else in the station?" I said hopefully, switching the console over to try to hail the dormitories and hangar bays.

No response came through on either side. Atton sighed and pulled up the closest chair, leaning back and crossing his feet over the dashboard.

"I have a feeling we'll be here a while," he breathed. "Wake me up when the rescue transport gets here."

I wasn't giving up. Someone else had to be here. Where did all the miners go? Who disconnected this console after the lockdown? Why did they just leave Atton in his cell when the lockdown happened? Who killed all those miners in the kolto tanks?

I sat on the armrest of the chair Atton had slumped in and continued to call every channel available to see if I could get someone to respond to me. Finally, I rang hanger bay 25, and I heard a series of low-pitched whistles and beeps, which made my ears perk up. Those noises sounded like a utility droid.

The chair beneath me shook as Atton bolted upright at the noises. "What was that?"

I gave him a smug smile and said into the console. "Hello? Is anyone there? Can you read me?"

More beeps and boops, but now I could clearly hear and understand them.

"Are you operational?" I asked the droid.

Affirming bleeps followed.

"We're trapped on the administration level. Can you unlock the turbolifts?"

More droid speak came through the comms, but they didn't sound pleasing. I stared at Atton with a confused look while he looked at me with anticipation.

I knitted my eyebrows. "There must be a way out of here besides the turbolifts. Are there emergency hatches?"

The droid then explained to me what we could do and I translated it to Atton. "The droid said we could go into the mines, but the door to the tunnels are locked and it would be extremely dangerous."

"Into the mines?" Atton exclaimed. "Are you crazy? Dozens of miners have been severely injured or died just while I've been here. You're not seriously thinking..."

He trailed off at the expression on my face. 

"You're crazy," he confirmed. "That's suicide!"

"It's better than being stuck up here," I told him. "Maybe we'll find out what happened to everybody."

"Okay, first of all, there's no 'we,'" Atton explained. "Second of all, there's no reason why we need to know what happened. We need a ship and a hyperspace destination to Nar Shaddaa. Plus, you're gonna die down there—guaranteed. The explosions would've created collapsed blast tunnels and superheated rock that will melt your skin off your bones."

I shrugged. "Someone's got to save our skins," I told Atton, then addresed the droid on the commlink again. "Get the lift to the mines unlocked. I'll keep this channel open."

More affirmative droid beeps, then immediate silence from the console. I sighed and stood up, pacing next to Atton in his chair. Now, we wait until the droid can unlock the lift to the mines, where I most certainly might die, but it was our only chance to find out what happened here and find a way off this station.


	2. One and Done

I found myself counting the minutes of our waiting period, sitting on the dashboard next to the console, watching Atton toss around his coin again, and anxiously peering out into the asteroid field, hoping for a ship to appear. Almost an hour passed before Atton finally said something.

"So..." He mumbled, awkwardly attempting small talk. He flipped his coin one last time, then folded his hands behind his head, leaning back in the chair. "How long have you been a Jedi?" Atton asked. "Must be tough, you know...no family, no husband..."

I flashed him a quick glare. "None of your business."

He held up his hands apologetically. "You know, I never did get your name."

Crossing my arms, I allowed my shoulders to drop. "Kira."

"Kira," he repeated. "Heh, that reminds me—"

Beeping from the console cut Atton off, and I jumped up to see what it was. Text across the screen told me the emergency hatch to the mining tunnels were unlocked.

"It's open," I told Atton, grabbing the vibroblade. "I'm going down there."

Before I sped off, Atton quickly stood and called out, "Wait!" I stopped and turned only for him to hand me something. "Take this comlink. I'll try to monitor things from up here and this will keep us in touch in case you need me."

I raised an eyebrow. " _In case I need you?_ "

He rubbed the back of his neck and quickly cleared his throat. "I mean, not that I care about what happens to you. I just don't want to try to get off this rock by myself."

I gave him a small smirk and inserted the comlink into my ear, continuing my way to the emergency hatch. It didn't take me long to get there. As soon as I slid through the hatch, I heard Atton's voice go off in my ear.

"Can you read me?"

"Barely," I told him. "There's a lot of static."

"The interference is probably due to the recent explosions," he explained. "I'm picking up a lot of droid broadcasts but I can't pin them down. Watch yourself down there."

"Aw, Atton," I cooed sarcastically opening a crate on the far side of the room with emergency supplies. "You do care."

I heard him groan on the other end. Smiling cheekily, I rummaged through the supplies to find some heat protection items and a miners uniform, which I started to put on. It wasn't the most stylish outfit, but it would help protect against the superheated rock down here from the explosions. The safety harness would also protect me with an energy shield that I could use against heat and the mining lasers the droids had modified to use as makeshift blasters.

"You won't like what I found, Atton," I said. "Clothes."

"Uh...good! Good to hear it!" Atton blurted. "No sense in you running around half naked. It's...distracting, you know...for the droids."

I shook my head and pressed forward. "Let me know if you detect anything else. I'd prefer not to die."

Taking the silence as agreement, I dumped the stuff I didn't need back into the container and pressed deeper into the mines. I found myself constantly getting turned around inside the mining tunnels—hitting dead ends, running into battalions of mining droids shooting at me, and trying to maneuver my way around superheated rock so I didn't melt the flesh off my bones. 

It took longer than I expected, and the perception of time down here felt wrong, but I managed to get to a large space with what looked like four exhaust valves in each corner of the room. There was a control console in the middle of the chamber, so I scurried over, finding a map of the mines, this ventilation room, and, thankfully, a way to get to the hangar bay. The problem was that the way through was inside of one of the vents, and they were blocked by ray shields to prevent toxic, explosive fumes from filling this chamber. I'd have to shut down the shields in order to pass, in turn blocking the ventilation system. But it was the only way through, and I've come all this way. 

"I'm about to do something really stupid," I told Atton over the comlink, "so don't be surprised if you see weird readings on the console."

"What are you going to do?" Atton asked as I turned off the shields on those valves. I could hear the warning beeps even through the earpiece. "Oh," was all he said after that.

"I need to turn them off to get to the turbolift to droid maintenance," I explained. "Is there any way you can contain the exhaust vents from spilling until I get there?"

"Not for long," he admitted. "I can buy you some time, but not much. I'm locking the emergency hatch so the explosion doesn't spread here. I'd hurry if I were you."

I took a deep breath to quickly center myself and ran as fast as I could into one of the vents. If I wasn't fast enough, extremely hot, explosive, and toxic fumes would build up pressure since I turned off the ventilation system. This whole section of the mines would turn into one giant thermal detonator and I would be nothing but a pile of space dust. Hopefully, the blast wouldn't completely destroy this entire asteroid and the vents would blow most of the explosion into space.

"Remember when I said 'hurry?'" Atton said into the comlink. "Yeah, the whole thing's gonna blow and I can't stop it."

I could now smell the harsh chemicals starting to leak into the vent again, but I could see the turbolift at the end of the tunnel. Pushing myself harder, I just managed to get inside the turbolift and close the magnetic door just before the the pressure released. The entire facility shook like an earthquake, and I had to catch my footing as the lift ascended to the next level, but everything seemed to remain intact. 

Sighing in relief, I contacted Atton again. "Everything okay up there?"

"You are crazy," his tone told me everything was fine, but the explosion was causing more static than before. "Have I told you that yet?"

I leaned against the back wall of the turbolift, heaving a sigh of relief and catching my breath. "You might've mentioned it. I'm almost at droid maintenance. Hopefully, we'll find some answers on this side of the station."

"Yeah, well, don't be surprised if you don't," Atton told me unenthusiastically. "I don't expect anyone will still be alive, especially with the droids going crazy or whatever. Just watch yourself, alright? Let me know if you find anything."

I nodded, even though I knew he couldn't see, just as the elevator doors opened. When I entered droid maintenance, the first thing I saw was what looked to be the droid mechanic dead on the floor, his right leg definitely broken, the femur bending in the middle of the bone instead of at the joints. His head was turned to the side, but when I applied pressure to the bones, they were also broken. It was a surprise attack, but a clean kill nonetheless. Someone who was or still is on this facility killed this man, but who or what, I could not say.

"Greeting: It is a pleasure to see you alive, Master, provided my receptors are not off focus!"

Startled, I quickly stood and whipped around, vibroblade at the ready to see who it was behind me. It was a protocol droid, an HK unit. Its bulky head and thin skeleton indicated as such, along with its stated intention before each phrase it said. 

"How may I be of assistance?" It asked me.

Tilting my head as if a new angle would help me wrap my mind around the situation, I wondered, "Master? I'm not your master. How do you know me?"

"Answer: I am a surviver of the Harbinger, just as you were, Master. With the unexpected termination of my previous master, you are the only organic which I may now serve."

I scoffed, tapping the arm of the corpse next to me with the toe of my boot. "Was this your previous master?"

"Answer: No, Master, the captain of the Harbinger. I was in transit to Telos to facilitate communications and terminate hostilities. However, we did not arrive at our intended destination."

Remembering what Kreia had told me back in the morgue earlier, I came to the conclusion that the Harbinger was the Republic warship where she allegedly rescued me on. Whatever happened onboard that vessel must've left quite a number on me; I still don't remember what happened that somehow got us here. However, I do remember that Kreia had mentioned someone was still after me, probably trying to kill me.

"Alright, well, we don't have time for a recap," I stated. "Where are all the miners?"

"Explanation: With the flawlessly-timed explosions in the mining tunnels, followed by several core system failures throughout the facility, the miners were forced to retreat to the dormitories for lockdown procedure.

"Apology: Unfortunately, these malfunctions also included the ventilation systems, in which toxic fumes from the mines were released in the dormitory area. I am sorry, Master, it is likely that no one has survived, and with the comlink to the dormitory section severed, it would have spared us the satisfaction of hearing the miners' screams as they lived out their last moments in fear and terror."

I raised an eyebrow at the droid's choice of wording, but stayed on task. "If the lockdown has sealed the dormitories, then trying to take another turbolift wouldn't do any good. There must be another way to get there."

"Theory: I suppose you could walk across the asteroid surface to the dormitory airlock, but such a feat would be extremely hazardous, and I do not wish to see you damaged, Master. 

"Condescending explanation: Besides, it is impossible to open the airlock anyway, Master. The console and the airlock is voice printed by the organic who was in charge of the droid maintenance area, who is now not alive to open it for you.

"Musing: However, I do possess the code to open the airlock, but it is useless without the voice to speak the code to unlock it. Therefore, I recommend you return to the medical bay and wait for retrieval from a vessel that is no doubt on its way, as continued exploration of this facility will resort in unnecessary danger."

Pressing my lips together in thought, I looked down at the man dead on the floor. This HK unit was oddly suspicious, at least for a droid. At this point, I was wary to trust anything it told me, but I knew it had the voiceprint ID for the airlock. Most protocol droids are equipped with sensors in their memories to repeat voices and sounds they've heard to retain information. Somehow, I needed to get this droid to the voiceprinted console and have it repeat the ID code to unlock the airlock. But that was easier said than done. If I got to the dormitory area, I might find more answers to what happened here, or what had occurred on the Harbinger before I was rendered unconscious. No matter what, I had to put some distance between me and this droid. 

I looked back up at the HK unit and nodded. "I want to look around this area first, then," I told it. "There may be some useful items I can salvage in these disabled droids."

"Annoyed confirmation: I doubt you could find anything useful in these crude models, but I guess you could try, Master."

"Great!" I clapped my hands together. "You stay here and keep a lookout, and I'll take a look around."

Before the HK droid could talk my ear off again, I hurried away, searching the area for anything useful. There was mostly just broken down mining droids, bit and pieces of incomplete work, and many mechanical tools. I happily took a tool belt with the tools and attached it to my person. Soon I came upon the mechanic's office, where I looked vigorously for something, anything, that could help me. Finally, I found it: a sonic imprinter—a small, thumb-sized device used specifically for recording voices. The man probably got it exactly for the voiceprinted console, except the storage was empty. He hadn't said the code into the imprinter before he died, which means I'll have to get it from the droid. Great.

So, I clenched the device in my fist to hide it, then returned to the HK unit.

"Greeting: You're back, Master! How may I be of assistance?"

"You know, I always thought HK units were the peak of droid construction," I told it, making my voice as sweet as honey.

"Shocked admission: Why, Master, it pleases me that you understand the superior detailing that is my hardware and programming."

"Yes, it's so immaculate. The fact that you can imitate voices is really impressive." I crossed my arms with the fist holding the sonic imprint tucked in my elbow, ready to hit record. "What would it sound like if you did speak the code into the console?"

"Proud answer: I believe my vocabulator is working adequately enough to accommodate your request. Recitation:" The droid's voice instantly shifted to that of the late maintenance officer's voice and I hit record, " ** _Maintenance control voiceprint ID: R1B5_**." I ended the recording as its voice switched back. "There. Was that sufficient, Master?"

I nodded. "Yes, I think that's all I'll need." 

As I turned and walked away, it tried to speak to me, but I wasn't listening. When I got out of line of sight, I bolted toward the airlock. There were more droids guarding the console, but I easily dealt with them before activating the voiceprint protocol and unlocking the console, which I then used to ready the airlock. The lockers in the outer airlock held space suits, which I quickly put on. Once secured, I activated the pressure change and it opened. There was a metal catwalk leading to the other end of the facility, which I guessed was the dormitory section. However, the vents for the facility were positioned periodically along the catwalk. Those fumes were so hot, they would burn my suit right off, so I had to time my jumps just right, turning my mag boots on and off so I wouldn't float away into deep space. 

Once I reach the midsection of the catwalk, I noticed I was passing right in front of the main control center where I saw Atton furiously working at the console. I tapped the side of my head, wondering if our comlink went out.

"Atton?" I wondered.

I heard his relieved sigh on the other end, and through the window I saw his tight shoulders relax. "Kira, it's good to hear your voice. I lost connection with that explosion." Even from here, I could see his eyebrows furrow. "But I'm picking you up on the surface of the asteroid."

Scoffing, I said, "Maybe you should look up."

The scoundrel did, and his jaw went slack. "Huh? What are you doing?"

Giving him a small wave, I shrugged. "This was the only way to get to the dormitory section with the lockdown still active."

He shook his head. "You're crazy."

"So you keep telling me."

Atton crossed his arms. "Since you've made it this far, I bet you've already seen the vents blowing that superheated exhaust out on the catwalk."

"I know," I assured him. "I'm being careful."

"The thing is," he continued, "it looks as if the vents have been rerouted like that on purpose, and only in the last few minutes. It's almost as if—" his eyes went wide before turning his focus to the console. "Oh, what now?" After checking, he told me what he saw. "I don't believe it, there's a ship coming in. I'm sending a docking code, but I have a bad feeling about this."

A few moments passed by before I actually saw the ship weaving through the chunks of asteroids floating around the facility, much smaller than the main asteroid, but dangerous nonetheless. It looked familiar, and the color and symbol on the exterior indicated it was Republic. Atton was right about his feeling. I knew it had to be the Harbinger.


	3. Get Up and Go

"Atton, listen to me," I said frantically, continuing my hopping across the catwalk, still dodging the hot toxins being vented into space. "There's an assassin bot in droid maintenance and that ship is likely not carrying friendlies."

"Great," he said over the comlink. "Any good news?"

"We're not dead?"

"Yet."

"Once I get to the dormitory section, I'll try to find some answers and get back to you as fast as I can. The only way off this rock is on that ship and who knows what's on it."

I heard him sigh. "Alright, but make it quick. I'll come to haunt you if I die because you were too busy looting corpses or whatever."

I finally made it to the airlock, where I tried as fast as I could to stabilize inner airlock pressure before taking off the spacesuit and booking it to a console. Reading off diagnostics and fixing things as I went, I rerouted the vents in the dormitories and shut down all droids in the area, which was a luxury I needed to have right now. I didn't have time to spend on fighting crazed mining droids when the Harbinger was going to dock any second. 

After that, I went through the logs, specifically the admin's log. He started explaining his worry and frustration with the situation before reciting a code to disable the lockdown, then the vents leaked the toxic fumes into the dormitory, killing everyone trapped in their rooms. I immediately tried to enter the code into the console to shut down the lockdown, but it was denied. Someone must've changed the code after the administrator died. No doubt it was the assassin pretending to be a protocol droid. 

Next, I bolted to the next turbolift. This would take me back up to the administration level, where Atton was, but with it still being in lockdown, it was going taking me no where. This time, I went directly to the turbolift console. Pulling up the log for that, I heard a few miners planning a coup to take the Jedi—me—and leaving to get a good price from the bounty on my head. Then one of them turned on the others and I heard blaster fire. A familiar robotic voice came up towards the end of the recording.

"Mocking query: Coorta? Coorta are you dead yet?" It was that HK unit. I knew it was not a true protocol droid. He must've been disguising his voice as one of the miners to be able to pull this off. "Smug statement: I guess I must've forgot I reversed the turbolift codes, just in case you managed to make it this far."

That was easy. As the HK droid said, I reversed the code as I entered it, and immediately, the turbolift back to the administration level unlocked, and I was able to take it back up. 

"Atton?" I asked over the comlink. "The assassin droid, it's the one who did all of this. It must've reprogrammed the mining droids, caused the explosions in the tunnels, and killed all the miners."

He responded almost instantly. "This is why I don't trust droids," he sighed. "Our new guests are docking right now, are you on your way back?"

"Nearly. I'm in the turbolift now. You might want to find a weapon—I have a feeling the droid is the least of our problems."

Atton didn't respond, but the lift came to a stop, and on the other side of the door was Kreia, her cloaked, wrinkly self still the same as before. She wrung her hands nervously.

"I have felt a disturbance," she told me in a soft tone. "Our enemy is here and we must leave at once."

"I know," I said. "Do you know who it is? What they want?"

"He is the one who fired on our ship, the Ebon Hawk, as I attempted to rescue you, and he will not allow us to leave without blood being shed."

Moving past her, I motioned for her to follow, which she did. For an older woman, she was very nimble as we sprinted our way back to Atton. 

"If we cannot find a way to escape on the Ebon Hawk, then we must find a way to escape on the ship that has docked here," Kreia decided. 

Even if we wanted to get to this Ebon Hawk, the hangar bay is locked down, just like the dormitories, and I haven't heard from that utility droid Atton and I had contacted earlier that was down there. It might've gotten the turbolift to the mining tunnels unlocked, but I remembered it said it was impossible to override the hangar bay with the lockdown in place. The way I saw it, our only option was to seize the Harbinger to escape this facility, and whoever was on board was looking to kill me. I couldn't see an outcome that would have us all off this station alive, given the information we had. 

But I also knew that we couldn't give up. There had to be a way. There is always a different way. 

Kreia and I reached the command center, where Atton was waiting, now holding a mining laser he had taken from one of the droids I defeated. He breathed in relief.

"It's about time you showed up," he said, then looked to Kreia. "Who's this? Another Jedi? What, did you guys start breeding when I wasn't looking?"

I glanced between the two of them. "I'll explain later, right now we need to leave."

He raised an eyebrow. "Uh, alright. I take it the Republic ship that just docked aren't friends of yours, either."

"I hope your talent for understatement is offset by your skill with a blaster," Kreia griped at him. "Otherwise our time together will be short, indeed."

Atton's eyes glared at her with new fire. "Yeah, and I'm also good at running and drinking, Your Majesty." He began to ignore Kreia and turned his attention to me. "Even if you guys aren't big fans of the Republic, that warship is the only way off this station."

Making a quick glance to Kreia, then back at Atton, I doubted that it was actually Republic soldiers on that vessel.

"Come on, then," Atton gestured, then started making his way to the docking port. "It should be a straight run to the shi—"

"Threat: Master, perhaps I didn't enunciate clearly the last time we spoke." 

It was the HK assassin droid. Of course it would have access to all the turbolifts while I had to jump through hoops to even get one working. There it stood, in our path to the docking port, mining laser in hand, attack position set and directed toward us. 

"I advised you to stay put and wait for rescue," it threatened.

I raised my vibroblade, ready to fight. "No, you were clear," I jibed. "I just don't listen to assassin droids."

"Statement: Very well, then, Master, you leave me no choice."

Atton actually shot the droid first, in the right shoulder, where it left me an opening to duck out of the way of the disrupted laser shot from the droid. Then, on instinct, I thrust out my hand toward the droid, drawing strength from the Force. At first I felt silly since I knew nothing would happen, but just as I was about to curse myself out, the HK unit flew backward, hit the far side wall, then clattered to the floor. Atton continued to lay down fire on the droid, ripping a new laser hole in it's chest until it laid motionless on the ground, nothing more than a pile of junk now. 

We all collectively sighed in relief, but I was startled at myself for being able to use the Force again. When I first left the Mandalorian Wars, I could not longer feel the Force—I was exiled from the Jedi Order and cut off from my powers. It was only an instinct from that time that I tried to use the Force just now, but actually succeeding after years of nothing had to be impossible. At least, I thought so, until now. Perhaps I wasn't fully severed from my connection in the first place?

Getting back to my feet, I realized the droid had now started making a beeping sound, like a countdown. Then, it's final robotic statement came through: "Now initiating self-destruct sequence."

My eyes went wide as Atton grabbed my arm and yelled, "Get down!" before yanking me away from the blast and hiding behind a nearby crate. I could feel the heat from the explosion, but I was not in pain. Atton had ducked us behind cover just in time for us to not be burnt to a crisp.

When the fire died down, still kneeling behind the crate, Atton asked, "Are you okay?"

Still somewhat in shock, I nodded. He was kneeling over me, his back to the corner of the crate, making himself big to protect me from the explosion. Even so, our noses we're almost touching with how pressed together we were. I finally snapped out of my weird daze, and realized just how close we were in proximity of one another. My cheeks flushed and my ears burned. Hastily getting to my feet, I stumbled upon words until I could finally complete a sentence.

"Yes, thank you," my voice sounded strained and nervous as it cracked on the vowels. I cleared my throat. "We should get going. The way to the Harbinger is cleared now."

Kreia stepped out from her hiding spot as well, her bony fingers carefully steepled together. Though I could not see her eyes from under her hood, I knew she would follow me. Atton stood as well, brushing the ash from his jacket. 

"It's not like I have much choice," he admitted. "Lead the way."


	4. The Harbinger

"Something is wrong," Kreia stopped in her tracks as soon as we stepped into the Republic warship. Atton and I both turned to look at her. All we could see under her hood was a small frown, making the wrinkles around her mouth deeper. "I sense no one on board.

"You _sense_ no one on board?" Atton asked. "Sense any assassin droids creeping up on us like last time?"

I threw Atton a reprimanding glare.

Kreia just brushed him off and continued, "Everyone here has been slain, yet there is no carbon scoring, no blaster fire." She gestured to the walls, which were clean, just as she described, though blind as she was. "This place has been hit by assassins of a different sort."

Atton's face tightened with concern. "Then what are we doing on this ship? We were better off in the facility!"

I checked the hatch leading back out into Peragus station. "Sealed. We can't go back this way. Someone on board wants to keep us in here."

"There's got to be another way off this ship," the scoundrel whined, taking a few steps down the hallway to look around.

Watching him as he walked down the hall to the top of the T, it made me think of an idea. Atton stopped and looked both ways, trying to peer into the darkness, before returning to Kreia and me.

"I think I have a plan," I told them. "The fuel line from the station is connected to the Harbinger, correct?"

Atton saw I was looking at him and stuttered, "Y-yeah, running the fuel line is an automated system."

"And the fuel line leads directly back to the fuel depot on the station, which is right next to the hangar bay."

"Where we will be able to make our escape on the Ebon Hawk," Kreia finished my train of thought. "As long as the Harbinger stays docked at the station."

Atton ran his fingers through his hair. "Look, I don't mean to cast another shadow on this, but even if we were to get to the ship you came in on, it wouldn't matter. You'll need the orbital drift charts to be able to navigate past Peragus' asteroid field. Unless you want to have the shortest flight out of Peragus ever recorded."

Scrunching my eyebrows, I blinked a few times in thought. "The Harbinger's navicomputer would have those charts, since it was able to dock. We'd just have to make a quick detour to the bridge for those codes before getting to the engine room."

"This plan with suffice," Kreia interjected, her bony hands stroking one of her braids.

"Aren't we forgetting something?" Atton asked. "What about the assassins?"

I shrugged. "We'll deal with them when we get to that point. Let's move out."

The three of us made our way through the ship, which was just as empty and suspicious as the mining facility. There were no bodies to be found, but the further we went in, the more damage we saw. Lights flickered, some doors had no power, and wires jutted out of broken panels in the walls, spitting sparks every few seconds. 

We finally came across a section of the Harbinger that had no power at all. I squinted into the darkness of the hallway before me, but I could not see whatever lie ahead through the shadow.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Atton muttered beside me, hand placed carefully on his newly acquired mining laser.

"Would you stop _saying_ that?" I said. "You're gonna jinx us."

"What?" He complained. "I can't help it; don't you feel it too? Something is going to get real wrong, real quick, and I'm almost never wrong about that."

His response made me stop for a moment to look at him. He said he could feel something, but I was curious as to whether it was just instinct, or if he was hiding something else from me. It made me wonder if Atton was Force-sensitive, and whether he knew it or not. I quickly blinked away my current staring at him and took a few steps forward.

"Just keep your eyes peeled," I said. "We don't want anything jumping out at us again."

I knew Atton wasn't wrong, though. I could feel somebody watching us, and as I glanced over at Kreia, her face showed no signs of concern, but her fingers gripped the hems of her sleeves. I started to question whether we should've stayed on the station or not, and I found myself looking over my shoulder constantly out of paranoia. 

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I turned around one last time, but this time there was a figure standing at the end of the hallway. I vigorously swatted Atton's arm to get his attention, and both he and Kreia turned around to look. The one dim light at the one end of the corridor illuminated the silhouette of the man, but the bounce light off his shoulders showed he had grey, severely cracked skin. He wore no shirt, but I could see the outline of pants and a bald head, which had the same skin consistency as the rest of his body. 

When we all had eyes on him, he started to saunter toward us.

"I came to warn you, _Jedi,_ " his voice was as gravelly as his complection. "You know not the path you walk."

Looking to Kreia, I asked with my eyes if he was talking about her or me. The woman's face hardened and she bowed her head, concealing more of her visage before she turned to me.

"This battle is mine alone," she stated. "I am not defenseless."

Kreia stepped toward the man and waved her hand back at us. I knew she was using the Force to close the door behind her and seal us off. Before they shut, she called to us.

"He cannot kill what he cannot see," she reassured us. "And power has blinded him long ago. Run. I will be along shortly."

The doors closed, and silence filled the hall again. Atton and I exchanged worried glances, but said nothing. I guess we both agreed that the old woman would be fine and continued down the dark hallway. There was a sealed door, but I knew Republic tech well, so I opened the side panel and began working to get it open. 

My eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and I saw Atton out of the corner of my eye, looking back at the door Kreia had closed behind her. 

"You think she'll live?" Atton wondered aloud. 

I decided not to answer that question, there was a lot that neither of us knew about the situation. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that that man was talking to me. I was the Jedi he was talking to. I doubted Kreia was a Jedi, but maybe she was a long time ago, it was hard to tell. The way she addressed me and the Jedi was sour enough to make me think she wasn't one, at least. 

And the man with the cracked skin? I had no idea what his deal was; I had never met him before in my life, but it seems that even though I was exiled from the Jedi Order, I was still being labelled as one. Which seemed weird to me since I didn't have my Force powers anymore. Well, until fifteen minutes ago, at least, when I blasted that HK unit with a Force push. Five years I've been without the Force, and now suddenly it comes back? I get that the Force is a mysterious entity but this was definitely weird. 

When I finally managed to reroute power to get the door open, I decided to ask Atton a new question.

"You mentioned earlier the miners tried to take me to the Exchange for a bounty," I mentioned, leading the way again. "What's that about?"

"Someone in the Exchange really wants Jedi, it seems," Atton explained. "After the Jedi Civil War, the Exchange put a huge bounty on Jedi, dead or alive. Those HK units are notorious for bounty hunting, but these assassins on the Harbinger? Hard to say."

"Why would someone want Jedi so badly?" I wondered.

"Who knows with the Exchange?" He responded in an exhausted tone. "But the Exchange isn't something to mess around with. I would just keep your head down and get lost in the crowd. I know this great place on Nar Shaddaa..." His voice faded and I could see his ears turn red. "Well, you probably don't want to hear me blabber on about some dive."

I finally looked around to see where we were, and I noticed that this area was familiar. I approached the nearest door and opened it, finding it to be a living space. At this new finding, I skipped another few doors down and opened that one, finding this room to be mine, when I was aboard the Harbinger before the attack.

"What are you doing?" Atton asked behind me as I entered the room. 

I walked over to the footlocker, which was locked. Luckily, I remembered the code and it opened, revealing a bunch of my personal belongings.

"This was once my room on this ship," I explained, pulling out a spare change of clothes. I pulled out a few other items a well, including two blasters. I tossed Atton one of them. "This should be more useful than that stupid mining laser."

Atton took a moment to inspect it, and I walked back to face him, who was standing in front of the door. 

"Now get out, I want to change," I told him.

He looked me up and down and said, "I can't say I blame you." He took two steps back into the hallway and I shut the door. 

I hastily changed into my new outfit, which wasn't anything fancy. It was just long pants, a shortsleeved shirt, boots, and a hooded poncho. I did keep the tool belt from droid maintenance, but I was so relieved to be out of that mining uniform. 

From the hallway, I heard blaster shots. I rolled my eyes and opened the door. "Atton, just because I gave you a blaster—"

I stopped while I was ahead. On the floor were two dead, masked people. Atton was just holstering his blaster, but he had a worried look on his face. We locked eyes in agreement. 

"We need to hurry and get out of here," he said what I was thinking. 

I picked up the vibroblade and the other blaster from the room and we ran out of the dormitory. 

"This way!" I called to him as we sprinted through the ship. I didn't know exactly how I knew where we were going, but it was like I had visited this place in a dream. It was foggy, but I remembered bits and pieces as we came across familiar sights. 

It was just a matter of time before we got to the bridge. Atton rushed to the navicomputer to download the orbital drift charts while I watched his back.

"It will take a minute to download," he informed me. 

I felt a fluttering in my stomach and my ears perk up; something I hadn't felt in a long time, but I knew exactly what it meant. I ducked instinctively as I heard a whooshing above my head. I saw a shimmer in front of me, like heat waves from an exhaust port, so I swung my blade, connecting with an assassin's leg. The cloaking device deactivated at the strike, and the assassin crumpled to the ground, groaning in pain. 

"We don't have a minute," I said, returning to my feet.

"We just have to hold them off until it's done, then we can make a break for it." Atton turned from the console and pointed his blaster at what seemed to be just air, but I saw the shimmering of the cloaking device before the blaster bolt hit another assassin's chest.

Two more of them dropped from the ceiling, and I deflected a blow from the stun staff just in time before being electrocuted. I pulled all of my strength into my leg before I kicked out, hitting it square in the chest. The assassin flew back into one of the consoles, dropping the staff and tumbling to the ground. I picked up the staff and used it on him before tossing it aside. 

I turned to make sure Atton was okay, only to watch him beat the butt of his blaster on the other assassin's temple, who ragdolled his face into the console and hit the floor, motionless.

"We good?" He panted, to which I nodded.

He returned his attention to the download and ejected the datapad. 

"We got it," he said. "Let's get off this blasted ship."


End file.
